The Crown season 5: Why the music in the trailer is significant
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The trailer for season five of The Crown has been released, teasing the next chapters of the royal family’s journey during the 1990s.
The hit Netflix drama series, inspired by the real-life events surrounding the Queen and her family, returns with new episodes on 9 November.
Ahead of season five’s release, a trailer was launched on Thursday (20 October), in which viewers can see new actors portraying the characters – including, notably, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana.
In a prescient nod to the near future in the show’s timeline, the trailer uses a cover of The Verve’s song “Bitter Sweet Symphony” as its soundtrack.
The track was released in June 1997, two months before Diana was killed in a car accident.
Although her death and the aftermath will not be depicted in this forthcoming season, the use of the classic indie track can be seen as a reference to the tragedy that lies ahead in season six.
“‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life / Tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die,” read some of the lyrics.
Scenes in the trailer depict Diana finding royal responsibilities increasingly difficult.
“People will never understand how it’s really been for me,” the character is heard telling someone in confidence.
The scenes also show the Princess preparing for a tell-all interview with broadcast journalist Martin Bashir (Prasanna Puwanarajah), and the resulting fallout.
“What the hell is she doing?” Prince Charles (Dominic West) shouts angrily, as John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) declares: “It feels it’s all about to erupt.”
Earlier this week, Dame Judi Dench gave an impassioned statement that called upon Netflix to include a disclaimer specifying that The Crown is a dramatised piece of work, rather than a biopic.
“The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism,” she wrote in a letter published on Wednesday (19 October).
